After the 8 visions(ch.1-6); the 4 Revelations(ch.7,8) the book winds down w/2 Prophecies(see burdens/oracles).
Ch.9-11 – The Messiahs 1st Advent.
Ch.12-14 – The Messiahs 2nd Advent.
PAST PRESERVATION OF HIS PEOPLE! (1-8)
Burden – Oracle, “what is lifted up”(by the voice).
Q: Remember Daniel’s prophecies of the world powers?
Ch.2 – [Image] Head of Gold; Chest & Arms of silver; Belly & sides of Bronze; & Legs of Iron.
Ch.7 – [4 Beasts] Lion; Bear; Leopard; Beast.
These represent the current Kingdom Daniel was writing during (i.e. Babylon). And the transition into the Medes & Persian.-ThenGreece would follow(w/Alex. The Great); & then Rome.
Zechariah is writing this during the time of the Medes & the Persians.
Verses 1-8,13 then is a prophecy of the conquests of the next Kingdom(Alexander the Great/Greece) as they will mow through the area of Palestine after the battle of Issus(Turkey) in 33bc.
They had a citadel of defense(Tyre/tsor = Rock). 150’ high walls, on its 150 acre rock fortress, a ½ mile from the mainland.
It withstood a 5 year siege by the Assyrians. A 13 year siege by the Babylonian army. But when Alexander came with a small army he defeated them in only 5 brief months.
This was heralded as “one of the epic stories of military history”
“He actually engineered a causeway across the narrow straight, which still remains the core of the wedge-shaped ridge that to this day attaches the ancient island site of Tyreto the mainland.” (Zondervan Pictorial Ency. pg 835)
Note the pun “Tyre(tsor) has built herself a tower(matsor).
Or if you’re from a southerner you’d use sound-alike pronunciation. “Tarr has built herself a tarr.
4 of the 5 principle Philistine cities(Askelon, Gaza, Ekron, Ashdod).
Alexander passed & re-passed the city of Jerusalem w/o laying a siege to it.
The ultimate cause…Divine protection upon it.
The spread of Alexander’s kingdom helped to prepare the way for the birth of the Lord Jesus. (And then of course Rome - Language/Greek, Travel/roads, Peace/with other nations)
“God controls history & uses it to accomplish His purposes!” (Warren Wiersbe; pg.618)
Events in the news today are doing the same.
If He’s written to us about end times then He MUST be at work today with the setting up & the taking down of all the nations.
1st ADVENT! (9-10)
Jesus’ triumphal Entry! (9)
At His 1stAdvent the Messiah enters Jerusalem’s gates, not on a charging white horse, but on a donkey.
It was the animal of peace, where as the horse was the animal of war.
Thus, appropriate for Christ to ride into Jerusalem.
We see a donkey as stubborn & stupid animal.
“In the East they were remarkable for their patience, gentleness, intelligence, meek submission& great power of endurance.” (Smith’s Bible Dict.)
Bringing salvation, not war.
Lowly & riding on a donkey
Roy Rodgers had hisTrigger; Gene Autry hadChampion; Hopalong Cassidy hisTopper; Alexander the Great hadBucephalus[Byoo-sef’-a-les](which he took everywhere with him)
Verses 1-17